


The Shoulders of Giants

by rimahadley



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Gen, Unsafe Lab Practices, discussion of kaiju organs, superpowers as character exploration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-26
Updated: 2016-01-26
Packaged: 2018-05-16 09:19:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5823079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rimahadley/pseuds/rimahadley
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Superpower AU fic.</p><p>The Golden Age of Jaegers is over and Dr. Newton Geiszler's lab safety could use some work, but humanity might just have a chance anyway.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Shoulders of Giants

**Author's Note:**

  * For [squireofgeekdom](https://archiveofourown.org/users/squireofgeekdom/gifts).



> betaed by the wonderful squireofgeekdom

Newton Geiszler was humming loudly to himself while sawing away enthusiastically at a kaiju bone sample. This was perfectly normal. He was also doing this while floating somewhere near the ceiling of the lab he shared with Hermann Gottlieb, surrounded by assorted kaiju organs. This, unfortunately, was also perfectly normal.

Hermann had been clinging to the door frame of the lab with one hand for the past three minutes, standing out in the hall to avoid being lifted from the floor. “Newton! Come down from there right now! Your _samples_ are getting everywhere!” It was not the first time he’d said this.

“Huh?” said Newt, appearing to have only just noticed his colleague’s presence. “Oh, sorry man! You know I can’t control it when I get distracted! Hang on a sec.” He (somewhat less than gently) floated back down the floor. The organs he’d been dissecting did not. “Haha, whoops. Uh, just a minute.” He concentrated, gripping the bone saw tightly. The organs wobbled for a moment, then dropped to the floor with wet _thwack!_ sounds. Newt winced. Some of those were delicate. He really needed to start securing samples he was done with better. Or at all.

Hermann made an annoyed scoff in the back of his throat and stepped inside the lab after cautiously checking that gravity was obeying the laws of physics once more. He rapped his cane sharply on the floor, though the effect was somewhat spoiled by the grating. “I have told you, _no organs on my side of the lab_!” he said, projecting a holographic image of the converted storage room for emphasis, with a clearly marked boundary between “Dr. Gottlieb’s Space” and “Dr. Geiszler’s Space.”

Newt raised his hands defensively. “I’m sorry! It just kind of… happens.” He went to go start picking his samples up, before reconsidering and putting the bone-saw down on his work table. It was… probably best to stop waving that around. Like he had just been doing.

“Well it wouldn’t if you would just develop more control! It is becoming impossible to work here.” Hermann dissolved his projection with a wave of his hand and sat down heavily at his own desk, turning on his computer and opening a notebook.

“Hey, it’s not like we have a choice. Lab space is expensive. And we can’t all project holograms from our heads, Hermann. I’ve been doing some research, and I’m preeeetttyy sure your power is inherently easier to control.” Newt opened up a storage cabinet and began stuffing samples inside. He was almost certain it was the right cabinet. Wait, no, that gland was from Meathead. He opened another and pushed it onto a shelf. Probably he should actually organize his work sometime. Also, his closet, but that was beside the point.

“Hrmph,” said Hermann, flipping through a book of mathematical equations, “or perhaps you’re simply making excuses to remain undisciplined.”

“Hey, no, no. I’ve really been studying this! So, the powers come from the kaiju right? Exposure to them, whatever. So Jaeger pilots, kaiju blue survivors— they all get superpowers! Which, Hermann, is _really cool_ , and you should appreciate that. Also, I got mine from working with kaiju guts, and you got yours from working with me, so a ‘Thank you, Newt, for this really awesome superpower that I use all the time’ would be nice.” He considered the cabinet for a moment, then slammed it closed, trying to keep anything from falling out. “Anyway, the point is people get different powers, and some powers are easier to control than others. Yours is pretty minor, and mine is elemental control! So of course I’m going to have a harder time.”

“I… suppose that makes sense,” Hermann said stiffly. “Still, it would be nice if you could at least make an _attempt_ to control yourself. Also, Miss Mori manages her power quite well, so perhaps your hypothesis requires some refining.”

“Okay, so that’s totally not fair, because she _channels_ electricity, not generates it.” Newt paused for a moment, trying to remember what he’d been planning on doing. It was either dissect what seemed to be some kind of liver, or go get lunch. What time was it, anyway? ...Oh. After three in the afternoon. He really needed to do a better job of remembering to eat. “Hey Hermann, want to go get lunch?”

Hermann sighed. “That’s what I asked you two hours ago. You told me to go away, you were trying to concentrate. When’s the last time you ate three meals in one day?” He sounded… concerned. It was unsettling. Newt preferred irritation. He knew how to react when Hermann was annoyed or mad at him.

“I dunno, like a week ago?” Newt said, trying to act like it was no big deal. And also trying to not literally sink into the floor in shame. The grating depressed a bit, but seemed to be holding. Cool as basically flying was, his power could be really… inconvenient. Maybe Hermann had a point about his lack of control. “I’ll, uh, go eat something. Right now.” The other K-Scientist had turned back to his work and appeared to be ignoring him. Holographic numbers floated around Hermann’s head like helpful bees. “Yeah. Food. Bye.”

Newt turned on his heel and walked out the lab door. He looked both ways, then kicked off gently from the ground, spreading his arms for balance. He turned around it midair, wobbled a little, then got his bearings by grabbing onto the doorframe and pushing off down the hallway. This was his favorite non-kaiju-related thing to do. He’d dreamed of flying as a kid, but he’d never imagined he would ever get to actually do it.

The cafeteria was pretty far away from the K-Sci lab, but once he got going Newt could move through the empty halls pretty quickly. He knew that they wouldn’t be serving lunch this late, but maybe he could snag a leftover sandwich and coffee. Newt kicked off a corner and rocketed into the cafeteria. And almost right into Tendo Choi. In his haste to change directions Newt ended up lying on the ceiling. He sat up, rubbing his head. Tendo was staring bemusedly up at him.

“You okay there, Newt?” Tendo asked.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Just, uh,” Newt concentrated for a minute. His personal gravity failed to change, and he was starting to feel a little light-headed, probably from a combination of chemical fumes from the lab and lack of food. “I think I’m stuck up here for a while. Um, if you don’t mind, could you grab me a sandwich and float it up here?”

“Sure thing! I was getting more coffee. I keep petitioning for a coffeemaker in LOCCENT, but the Marshal still won’t approve it.” Tendo grabbed a sandwich off a plate that had been left out on one of the counters, then called back up, “Hey, you’re okay with tuna, right? Because today we’ve got tuna, tuna, and more tuna.”

“Yeah, tuna’s fine.” It wasn’t his favorite, but he didn’t have a sensory aversion to it either, and honestly at this point he just needed to eat _something_. Tendo telekinetically floated the sandwich up to him, letting it go when Newt’s gravity bubble caught it, then grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down at a table almost directly below Newt.

“You mind the company?” Tendo asked, blowing on his coffee.

“No, no. That is, I don’t mind. What’s up? Or down, whichever.” Newt gulped down too much sandwich and swallowed several times, coughing. Talking to someone from the ceiling was inconvenient, but it was nice that someone liked him enough to stick around.

“Well,” Tendo began enthusiastically. “We brought in Danger’s new reactor today. Mako was supervising the installation when I left. She’s looking beautiful, have you seen her? The restoration team’s been doing a great job.”

“No, I haven’t. I— hang on.” Newt focused and slowly turned himself around on the ceiling, then floated back down to the floor, coming to an almost graceful landing next to Tendo. “Yes!” He punched the air. “Who lacks control _now_? Well, still me, but whatever.”

“Do you have time to stop by the Jaeger Bay before you go back to your lab?” Tendo asked. “And don’t worry, the techs unbanned you again.”

“Sure! And really? I thought it was gonna be permanent this time.” Newt normally avoided the Jaeger Bay, both because of his tendency to wind up in everyone’s way and the fact that it was never, ever quiet, but Tendo had invited him, so he’d be happy to go.

“Nah, Alison likes hearing what K-Sci is up to, so she talked them into letting you back in. Just don’t break anything.” Tendo punched him lightly in the shoulder.

“Who, me?” said Newt, raising his hands in faux-bewilderment. “So what’s the big deal with this… new reactor, anyway?”

“The big deal?” said Tendo incredulously. “I’ll tell you the _big deal_ . It’s an Arc-9 dual core analog reactor, less responsive than a digital but we need the extra power, with a nuclear vortex turbine… She’ll be better than ever before. It’s a _very_ big deal, trust me.”

“I’ll take your word for it! It sounds awesome.” Newt hesitated. “Thanks for inviting me along, dude, you didn’t have to.”

Tendo looked at him oddly, but Newt couldn’t figure out why. “No problem.”

They headed to the Jaeger Bay together. Newt only bumped into one person, which he was pretty proud of, honestly. Tendo led him up a flight of rickety metal stairs and onto a catwalk.

“Oh, _wow_ ,” said Newt, stunned. He’d never paid all that much attention to the Jaegers, finding the kaiju much more fascinating. The Jaegers fought the kaiju and let him get new samples; that was the extent of his relationship with them. But this was _gorgeous_. The reactor pulsed gently with a warm red-orange glow, set strikingly against the dark blue of Danger’s chest. He looked away after almost a full minute of staring, the longest he’d stayed still in— well, who knows how long. The two other Jaegers in the Shatterdome— Cherno Alpha and Crimson Typhoon— gleamed softly, battle-scars catching the light. He and Tendo stood in silence for a few minutes more, admiring the massive robots.

“You know,” said Tendo, almost reverently, “I’m beginning to think we might actually win this war.”

“Yeah…” said Newt, uncharacteristically quietly. “You might just be right.”


End file.
